Training a Ghost
by KicsterAsh
Summary: Sam and Tucker decide to help Danny perfect his newly acquired Ghost powers... Unfortunately, this turns out to be easier said than done.
1. Chapter 1

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: E-Dantes enjoyed reading **The Accident (of here on FF it's The Day Things Changed)** story, and thought that it would be a neat idea if I tried writing a short story about what happened between the Ghost Portal Accident, and the first episode **Mystery Meat**._

Because this story takes place within an entire month, it's slightly longer than the other shorties I've written. Instead of two parts or even one, there are **three.**

Basically, I figured I would write about how Danny felt in the VERY beginning about having his ghost powers. I tried putting myself in his shoes: personally, I'd be freaked out. And after a few days of waking up and falling THROUGH my bed, I'd probably start to get ticked off too.

Anyway, Enjoy!

* * *

_Knock, knock, knock!_

"Danny, get up!"

Sunrays squeezed into the room from between the drapes. Dust particles danced visibly where the light reached them. Model space shuttles and NASA machinery hung from the ceiling, swinging gently from side to side. Sometimes, a wing slid within reach of the sun, and the light bounced off the shiny metal, casting a bright glare over the bed.

_Knock, knock, knock! _

"Danny, what the heck are you doing in there?"

The bundle of blankets on the bed shifted and groaned tiredly. A foot stuck out here and an arm stuck out there. A few strands of black hair poked out from the top, right over the pillow.

"DANNY!"

The covers groaned again until two hands reached for the pillow and placed it over the teenager's head. "Go awaaaayyy," he moaned in response of the upset voice behind the door.

"What are you _doing_ in there?"

"I'm _sleeping_. What else?"

"Get up then!"

Danny groaned louder. "Jazz, it's Saturday _morning_, for Pete's sake!" he snapped, finally sticking his head out from the cover—his eyes remained closed, however. "I'm not going to school today, so LET ME SLEEP!"

"Mom wants you up! We're going to visit Great Aunt Veronica today, remember?"

The fourteen-year-old stuck his head back under the sheets. "Say hi to her for me, will you?" he groaned. "Now buzz off. I wanna catch some more Zs before I—!"

The alarm clock by his bed suddenly began leaping around while ringing madly. Danny felt his heart leap in fright as he jumped up and shouted in complete surprise. He sat up straight in bed and stuck his head up.

That was not the only surprise he received that morning: Danny's newfound abilities, the ghost powers he received from his accident in the lab a week earlier, kicked in: and this time, it was his gift of intangibility that started Danny's morning off.

He felt his entire body lose some of its weight, and with another cry, Danny fell right through the bed and landed on the floor beneath it.

He fell flat against the carpet and groaned in frustration before attempting to raise himself. A painful pinch wrapped around his right ankle, causing the teenager to yelp before looking in the foot's direction; to Danny's dismay, he had become solid once more… but only after his foot had slid into the floor.

_"What?"_ he exclaimed in horror.

A knock came over the door again. "Danny? What's going on in there?" Jazz called out, sounding a little concerned now.

Danny raised his head quickly, resulting in it smacking against the bottom of his bed. He groaned loudly before opening an eye and staring worriedly at the door. "I-I'm fine!" he called back nervously.

There was a pause behind the door. "Are you sure?" his sister wondered. "You sound like you got hurt."

"Everything's just fine, Jazz! Now buzz off!"

"But—!"

"I said, BUZZ OFF!"

The sixteen-year-old behind the door groaned loudly and stomped off down the hallway. "You are SO irritating sometimes!" she snapped.

Danny listened to her storm off. Once she had gone down the stairs, the fourteen-year-old sighed loudly and turned to look at his foot. "Come on, not now, please," he begged in despair, while wrapping his hands around his ankle. _"Please_ don't do this, this morning, _please!" _

Another knock came over his bedroom door. Danny gasped quickly and looked up, careful not to hit his head again.

"Danny, Jazz says you're refusing to get up," came his mother's voice. "We're going to visit my aunt, remember?"

_Oh, great; not Mom_, Danny thought. He pulled at his ankle. _If I don't get my foot out of the floor, she's going to wonder how the heck it ended up there! How will I explain to her that her stupid portal gave me ghost powers? She'd use me as a lab rat! _

Maddie rapped against the door again. "Danny, are you listening to me?" she repeated. "It's already ten o'clock. I want you to get up and get ready to leave in an hour. Is that clear?"

Danny tugged at his ankle. "Come on, come _on_," he whimpered.

He heard his mother groan on the other side. "Daniel Fenton, get out of that bed this instant!" she shouted impatiently.

"Euuuh, yeah, Mom!" Danny replied nervously, looking up quickly. To his dismay, he bonked his head against the bottom of his bed again, resulting in him having to groan painfully once more.

And this time, his mother questioned it. "Danny, are you alright in there?" she asked.

Danny tugged on his foot some more after gingerly rubbing his head. "I'm fine, Mom!" he replied.

"Then what was that yell for?"

"Nothing in particular! Just woke up on the wrong side of the bed!"

There was a pause before the next sound Danny heard was one he was hoping not to hear:

The doorknob turning.

"I'm coming in to check on you," Maddie announced.

Danny widened his eyes. "No, Mom, don't!" he shouted out. He tapped his fingers against his chin and thought the only—and the worst—excuse he could think of at the moment: "I'm, uh… I'm changing! You can't come in!" He went back to pulling on his foot.

His mother stopped turning the door. "Danny, I've seen you in your boxers before," she said with a tiny giggle.

_Oh, come off it, Mom!_ Danny thought. "Uuuhh, I'm not _in_ my boxers, Mom! Stay out!" Danny could only imagine how badly Tucker would be laughing at this point.

"I gave birth to you; I've seen you naked more than once."

_Gross! Why is it that moms always find some disgusting loophole?_ Danny looked at his foot again. "Come on, there's no stopping her now," he chanted nervously behind his teeth. "Get ooouuut…"

The doorknob began turning again. Danny looked at the door and watched as it began to slowly open. He looked at his foot again. "Come on, come _oooooonnnnn_," he whimpered.

The door continued to open, and just as Maddie began sticking her head in, Danny felt his foot lose its weight and slip back out of the floor. It glowed dimly in blue before transforming back to normal.

The fourteen-year-old sighed loudly of relief before inching out from under the bed.

Maddie peered into the room and looked about. "Danny?" she called out. "Danny, where are you?"

"Right here." Danny poked his head up over the side of the bed and smiled wryly at his mother. "Okay, now you saw me," he said. "Can you get out now?"

Maddie frowned in confusion. "What in the world are you doing on the floor?" she wondered.

"Hiding my _nakedness_ from my mother."

"But—!"

"MOM!" Danny exclaimed loudly. "GET OUT!"

Maddie recoiled in bewilderment before covering her mouth and giggling. "Okay, okay," she said before slipping out of sight. She closed the door softly behind her.

Danny sighed again and got to his feet. Sitting on the side of his bed, he placed his head in his hands and groaned before passing his fingers through his matted hair. "I'm never gonna survive through anything with these stupid powers," he groaned. "With a family as nosy as mine, someone will eventually find out."

He stood up and removed his pyjama shirt. After tossing it to the floor, Danny walked up to the mirror in the corner of his room and stared at himself.

Jet black hair, like his father; blue eyes—though a shade or two lighter—like his mother; peachy skin and a bit of a natural blush, like his sister. Thin, slender, muscle-less body… just like himself.

Danny let his shoulders droop. On the outside, he looked just like he had for the past fourteen years: a Fenton. Daniel Fenton. Youngest and only son of Jack and Madeline Fenton, Amity Park's first—and only—ghost hunters.

A geek. A dork. A kid who was scared out of his wits of ghosts.

Danny tightened his lips and stared down at his hands. He thought about what had happened the week before; he thought about passing through a portal and coming back out with a piece of the other side buried in his soul—a piece that would be stuck with him for the rest of his life.

_Ghosts, ghosts, ghosts. He thought about being half_ ghost _for the rest of his life. _

Danny was so deeply buried in his thoughts that he did not notice the bright halo of light that surrounded his waist and intersected his body. After a moment, he realized that his hands were now covered in white gloves, his body was dressed in a tight, black jumpsuit, his feet were standing in white boots, and he was currently haloed in a pale, white light.

Danny sighed and turned his hands over. "Just one button," he muttered. "One big, red, _stupid_ button stood between me…" He raised his head and stared at his face. "… and this."

Gone was the black hair inherited from his father; gone were the blue eyes that he had received from his mother; gone was the natural blush that he and Jazz shared. Instead, he had a head covered in snow white hair, eyes that glowed like sparkling green emeralds, and a peachy skin, if not slightly darker than before, with a lack of color in his cheeks. And although his body retained its slender form, his arms, legs and even chest had become sturdier, as though a new layer of muscles now covered them.

A complete stranger. A stranger Danny was forced to get acquainted with.

He stared sadly at his reflection. "It's bad enough my parents _hunt_ ghosts down," he said. "It's even worse that I'm still scared spineless of ghosts… But then I just _had_ to be brave, I just _had_ to step into that stupid portal…" He looked at his hands again. "And now, I'm not only a prize to be won by _both_ of my folks… But I've become something I'm afraid of."

He looked up at himself again. He crossed his arms and sighed loudly. "Whoever said going through puberty would be a pain obviously isn't half ghost," he muttered while hugging his waist.

Danny's cell phone began to vibrate, all the while singing _Rebirth_ from Skillet. The teenager turned around and stared at his lampstand before walking over to it and picking up the phone. He flipped it open and held it up to his ear. "Hello?" he announced as optimistically as he could.

_"Dude, are you online_?" his best friend's voice asked.

Danny rolled his eyes with a weak grin. Only Tucker would be on the computer playing video games at that time of the day. "Actually, I'm just rolling out of bed," he announced, transforming back to normal. "Hold on; I'm gonna put you on speaker." He placed his phone down, hooked it up to a device next to his radio and pressed a button on the machine. "Okay, you're on."

_"So that stereo thing I goofed up one night actually works with your cell_?" Tucker snickered.

"Sometimes. It still has a few kinks in it. Like I can't hang up until I unplug the phone."

_"Hehe, my bad… Anyway, you busy today? There's this new competition on_ Doomed _going on and I was kind of looking into pairing up with someone… say, mah best friend?" _

While Tucker spoke, Danny gathered the clothes he needed and began changing. He slipped off his pants. "Sorry, Tuck, my family's going to visit my great aunt in the city. I'm gonna have to skip this game, Bro."

_"Bummer. Oh well, at least I tried." _

"Why not ask Sam?"

_"Sam? Danny, she's a girl! Girls don't play online games, dude! Besides; even if she did, she'd be telling me what to do, and I don't like getting bossed around by a girl online… especially if she already does it in real life." _

Danny chuckled as he stuck his head through his shirt collar.

Tucker remained silent for a moment. While he was, Danny could hear sounds from his best friend's computer on the other end—another thing Tucker was good at was multitasking. _"So…_" the boy began, _"How's the uh… morning schedule coming along?" _

"Don't ask," Danny grunted as he tossed his pyjamas under his pillow and began making his bed.

_"Dude, it's been a week or something since then, and you're_ still _not used to them?" _

"Tucker, have you ever tried pulling your _foot_ out from the _floor_ while your mom was attempting to enter the _room_?" Danny snapped.

Tucker whistled. _"No, and I'm guessing that's what happened to you this morning, right_?" he said, almost muttering the words.

"One day, I'm living a normal life," Danny continued, ignoring Tucker's words. "A normal, freshman life—!"

_"Your life with a jerk like Dash in it was normal?" _

"—Now, I'm walking around with these flippin' _ghost_ powers, all the while living under the roof of a pair of _ghost HUNTERS_!" Finishing with his bed, Danny sat down on the mattress and sighed depressingly. "I feel like I'm walking on unstable grounds, Tucker. If my parents find out about this, not only will I be grounded for having even _thought_ of entering that portal, but they'll strap me down to the lab table and experiment on me!"

_"I thought your dad just wanted to destroy ghosts… molecule by molecule_?" Tucker wondered.

Danny frowned in irritation and laid his head back in the pillow. "Thank you for pointing that out, Tucker," he said incredibly sarcastically.

_"Dude, you're thinking_ way _too much about this whole half-ghost thing. I mean, your parents will love you no matter_ what. _They won't experiment on you." _

_"You_ don't know that."

_"Well—!"_

"My parents are crazy enough to suspect the mayor of Amity Park to be a ghost. They'd even trap him and drag him back here. Trust me. They did that with the mailman. That's why we have to walk to the post office now."

Tucker sighed. _"Okay, you know what you need_?" he said.

"What; a banana split with whip cream and a cherry on top?"

_"That sounds delicious… I mean_, no. _You need to find some way to get used to having the powers you've got now. I mean, you've got the transformation thing downpat now, right?" _

Danny scratched his head. "I guess so," he replied. "All I've got to do is think about changing or think about ghosts and I—!"

A bright flash filled the room and the light halo intersected Danny's body again. He yelped in surprise and covered his face before looking at himself and groaning.

_"You just did it again, didn't you_?" Tucker guessed flatly.

"Dude, I need to stop thinking of _ghosts_ so often!" Danny complained while crossing his arms behind his head. "I've never thought about them this much before, it's messing with my brain! If I don't find some way to control it, I'm going to _Go Ghost_ in front of my parents!"

_"Okay, now you're freaking_ way _too much." _

"What should I do then; jump off a cliff?"

_"Okay, you_ really _need to calm down, Dude. Probably half of the reason you keep doing weird stuff before realizing it is because you're always freaking out_." He paused, seeming to wait and see if Danny would remain silent, and then cleared his throat. _"Here's what I propose, Danny; since we've got no school on Monday, come over to my place. My folks are gonna be out visiting my uncle, who lives on a ranch about three hours drive from here; they're only coming back on Tuesday afternoon. I'll give Sam a ring. Come over for… let's make it ten thirty, okay?" _

"Ten thirty in the morning?" Danny echoed in disbelief. "Dude, that's _way_ too early on my watch."

_"If I throw in a pickle milkshake, you in?" _

"… Alright."

_"I figured that all you need is to get acquainted with your ghost powers. So, come over to my house, and Sam and I will try helping you practice. I mean, we obviously can't_ show _you how to use them, but we can still try to figure them out. And while you're visiting your aunt, I'll do some more research on ghosts and see what I can find that's helpful. There's got to be at least one dinky myth or legend about someone being a type of hybrid—!"_

"Hy_what_?" Danny said in confusion.

Tucker sighed. _"Hybrid. Something that's half of one thing, and half of another. Like you. A ghost Hybrid." _

"Dude, that makes me sound like I'm some kind of cross between a horse and a poodle."

_"Wow, you_ seriously _need to read more sci-fi, Danny." _

A knock came over the bedroom door. Danny looked up quickly.

"Danny-Boy, your mother says to come have a bite to eat before we leave," his father's booming voice chanted.

"Oh crud," Danny muttered, realizing that he was still in ghost form. He transformed back to normal and sat down. "Coming, Dad," he called back. Once his father's footsteps faded away, he looked at his cellphone. "I've gotta go, Tuck," he said. "Before _Dad_ decides to barge in on me like Mom did."

_"After this week, I think I'm glad my dad is an accountant_," Tucker said thoughtfully.

Danny smiled at this.

_"But your parents are a lot more eccentric. I like things that are weird." _

"Is that why I'm your best friend?" Danny wondered while getting to his feet.

_"Bingo. But don't tell that to Sam. She'll take it the wrong way and ask me to apologize." _

Danny laughed and pulled a red hoodie over his body.

_"So… I'll see you on Monday?" _

"You got it, Bro."

_"Goodie. Later days, Danny." _

"Bye."

Danny waited for Tucker to hang up before unplugging his phone and ending the call from his end. He stared at the cell phone for a moment before looking at the calendar on the wall nearby.

_Monday… that'll make it exactly two weeks since I got my powers…_


	2. Chapter 2

Danny had been surprised at how well he had done on Saturday to forget about his ghost powers. He had been so occupied on the trip with his Nintendo DS, his ipod and irritating his sister, he had forgotten all about ghosts. At his aunt's, he managed once more to keep his mind off of anything supernatural—mainly for the reason that his great aunt believed everything supernatural like ghosts or vampires to be taboo and mustn't be spoken of, which was more than a challenge for Danny's father, considering how much Jack loved speaking about ghosts.

He even managed to enjoy his time spent with his aunt.

Sunday proved to be _just_ a tad more difficult: that was usually the day that Jack and Maddie took the children out in their RV on a "family outing," they called it. Of course, it was just their way to say "Time to take the kids out ghost hunting so they can see what it's like for themselves!"

Danny had gotten used to it, although now that he had ghost powers, it made him more anxious to be around his parents—at least while he did not have control over his powers.

His sister, on the other hand, was furious that she had been dragged along for the ride, much to Danny's dismay this time. The more Jazz complained about ghosts, the more he thought about them.

He was more than happy to have that day end and return home.

When Monday arrived, Danny was up and out of the house almost before his parents could even say, "Good morning." He wanted out as quickly as possible, in order not to risk another day of transforming in front of them.

He snatched a granola bar from the cupboard and wolfed down a glass of orange juice before slipping on his runners and running out of the kitchen. "Gotta run, bye!" Danny called out loudly.

But Maddie managed to stop him. "Hold on, there," she said, standing up from the table and causing her son to halt in front of the front door. "Where are you going, Young Man?"

Danny groaned softly before turning to face her. "I'm just going over to Tucker's for the day," he said. "His parents are out, so he invited Sam and me over to play some video games and stuff."

Maddie raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. Jack, still busy eating his breakfast, looked up at his son as well, all the while dumping more cereal into his bowl. Jazz tried to ignore everything around her while sticking her nose in a book.

Danny held out his arms. "What?" he exclaimed. "It's not like we're going to do anything illegal! We're just hanging out, Mom!"

"Are you sure his parents are allowing it?" Maddie wondered.

"Sure, I'm sure! Tucker told me that he had asked permission."

Jazz scoffed behind her book. "And I'm _sure_ Tucker tells the truth constantly," she muttered.

Danny glared at her and pointed his index finger in Jazz' direction. "Clam it, Smart-allic!" he snapped. "Just because _your_ friends are smarter and are all girls, doesn't mean you've got the right to diss _my_ friends!"

"Danny, there's no need to shout," Maddie announced, unimpressed by her son's reaction.

The fourteen-year-old waved his arms around. "Why am I being accused?" he exclaimed. "I'm just standing up for my best friend! Jazz is accusing Tucker!"

"He's got a point, Maddie," Jack muttered.

Maddie turned her head and glared at her husband. Jack cowered in shame and looked at Danny. "But then again, you didn't need to yell like that," he added.

Danny groaned and placed his hand on the doorknob. "Fine; I'm _sorry_," he mumbled. He looked at his mother again. "Can I go now?"

Maddie looked at her husband again before sighing. "Alright," she said, looking at her son. "But make sure to be back by dinner."

"Yeah, yeah," Danny muttered while opening the door. "Bye, Mom, bye Dad," he called out before closing the door.

Maddie remained in her position and watched the door. She smiled weakly and looked at Jack. Her husband smiled back in reply. "Three, two, one," they counted in unison.

No sooner had they finished did the door swing open and in peered Danny's head. The teenager was smiling deviously at his sister. "Did I forget to mention that Bearbert is hiding again?" he sneered. With a giggle, Danny disappeared and closed the door behind him.

Jack covered a laugh just as his daughter squealed and rose to her feet. "BEARBERT!" she exclaimed while dashing off to find her stuffed friend.

Maddie watched her leave before grinning and looking at her husband again.

"You think we should ground him for always doing that?" Jack wondered.

Maddie sat back down at the table. "He'll eventually run out of hiding places," she replied before returning to her meal.

* * *

It was ten after ten in the morning by the time Danny had driven his scooter down the street to his best friend's house. Sam had already arrived fifteen minutes earlier, bringing along some books she borrowed from the library about the supernatural, as well as a few she claimed belonged to her grandfather.

Tucker had done his research, came out with numerous legends and myths, and had prepared two pickle milkshakes for himself and his best friend, as promised. For Sam, he made a strawberry shake.

"How you two can actually _drink_ that stuff, I will never understand," Sam muttered as she sat down on the couch next to Tucker. She grabbed the TV remote from Tucker's hand and began flipping through the channels while sipping at her milkshake.

"Hey, not your house, not your remote!" Tucker complained.

Sam looked at him with a soft glare. "_My_ fist, _your_ face," she warned.

"Gee wiz, do you ever go a day without thinking of clobbering me?" Tucker muttered stubbornly while sinking low on the couch and crossing his arms.

"Whenever you're not complaining. Back to the milkshakes…"

"Come on, Sam, if you can have carrots in a smoothie, then why can't Danny and I enjoy pickles in a milkshake?"

"It's not just the fact that you guys blend pickles with ice cream, Tucker; it's all the _other_ stuff you blend too!" Sam let go of the remote and began counting her fingers. "Like peanut butter, lemons and limes, french fries, sloppy joes—!"

"Don't forget the cheese shake!" Tucker announced proudly.

Sam grimaced and shuddered. "Ugh; that is _so_ gross," she muttered.

Tucker took the opportunity to reach over and grab the remote from Sam's lap. He began flipping through the channels himself. "You wanted to hang out with us, so that's your problem, Girl," he announced. "Danny and I just have a taste for weird stuff."

"Speaking of Danny and weird stuff, where the heck _is_ he?" Sam wondered, raising her head and looking at the front door for a moment. "This _was_ about his ghost powers, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"So then, where's the ghost?"

_THUD! _

Sam and Tucker jumped in surprise when they heard something heavy fall against the front door. Both raised their heads and stared at it in bewilderment for a second or two until they heard a familiar voice:

"Argh! Stupid door!"

The two fourteen-year-olds rolled their eyes. "Sounds like that's him," Tucker announced as he stood up and ran to the door.

Tucker opened the door slowly, slightly concerned that his best friend would fall flat on his face if he opened it too quickly. Standing on the other side, holding his nose in both hands, was none other than Danny Fenton.

"Knock much?" Sam said flatly while leaning over the couch.

Danny groaned behind his hands and stepped into the house. Tucker closed the door behind him. "Dude, what the heck did you try to do?" he wondered in shock. "Barge down the door? Knocking would have sufficed. You can even just _waltz_ in, for cryin' out loud."

Danny removed one hand from his nose and wiped it on his jeans before walking into the kitchen. "That's what I was _trying_ to do," he muttered.

Tucker and Sam exchanged a look of complete shock before following their best friend. Sam leaped over the sofa. "You tried going _intangible_ and walking through the front _door_?" Sam said.

Danny fumbled around under the sink for a rag of some sort. "It'll work when I'm trying to drive my scooter down the street, nearly managing to get myself killed," he muttered more or less to himself. "But it _won't_ work when I think about it while running up my best friend's front steps." He groaned and looked up at Tucker. "Tuck, do you have something I can put some ice on? I think I broke my nose or something."

"Maybe we should take you to the clinic, then," Sam suggested as Tucker opened a drawer and pulled out an old cloth.

"No need," Danny replied as though his nose was blocked. He stood up and leaned against the counter as Tucker ran to the freezer and pulled out an ice pack. "I read through an info journal yesterday that my mom wrote while on our family outing, and found out that ectoplasm actually helps ghosts speed up injury recovery. Even broken bones will mend. It's like a super boosted blood stream. By tomorrow, my nose should be fine."

"I see you've been already doing your own research," Tucker noticed as he handed the cloth and icepack to his best friend.

Danny removed his hand from his nose and immediately clamped the cloth and icepack over it. "Have no choice, really," he replied. "I am unofficially a ghost now." He held up his hand and looked at it. "Though I need to learn how to _control_ my powers… Ugh, I think I only have a nosebleed." He looked at the sink and held his hand under it. "False alarm. Mind turning on the cold water, Dude?"

Tucker reached over and turned the tap until water came pouring out over Danny's messy hand. "While we wait for the bleeding to stop then, I can show you the info I found on hybrids," Tucker explained. "And Sam brought a bunch of books that may come in handy too."

"And then we can start going over your power practice," Sam added. She smiled cleverly at Danny. "But for the record, Danny; if we decide to go outside, try not to run into any doors anymore, okay?"

Danny turned his head and glared tiredly at Sam. "Hardee har har," he said, making Tucker laugh.

* * *

For the rest of the morning, and through lunch hour, Danny sat in the living room with his best friends, listening to what Tucker had found about hybrids, and looking through the books Sam brought with her. For the most part, Danny held up a rag to his nose, or else stuffed two pieces of rolled up tissue in his nostrils. Nearing noon time, the bleeding had finally ceased, allowing Danny to properly breathe through his nose again.

Tucker's information had certainly aroused Danny's curiosity in his abilities: people who could transform into werewolves, werecats, and other creatures, were considered to be hybrids, since they were in one form at one point, and then another form at the next. The only difference between Danny's ghost half and the werewolves was the fact that Danny was in complete control of his actions. He was conscious of everything around him, he could respond clearly to his best friends, and, once he had gotten enough practice, he'd be able to control his attacks.

Tucker bit into his meat sandwich at lunch and leaned over the book he had in his lap—they were all sitting in a circle on the floor, surrounded by books and papers, while chewing on some form of sandwich or snack. The black teenager trailed his finger over the page. "Says here that emotions can have an influence on new powers and transformations as well," he announced. "If fuelled by an emotion, especially a negative one, the bearer of the gifts could very well _lose_ control over his actions." He looked up at Danny as his best friend slurped on another milkshake. "Kind of like the Hulk."

Sam pointed at Danny. _"That_ would explain why your powers act up every morning or why you still can't control how much you transform," she said. "You either get super nervous, super freaked out, or just plain ticked off about something."

"Dude, you need to learn to control your emotions," Tucker added.

Danny pulled his lips away from his straw. "_Dude_, I am a fourteen-year-old who is presently going through puberty," he said in an irritated tone. "To make it worse, I just got ghost powers. I am at a point in my childhood that _I can't CONTROL my emotions_." He leaned towards Tucker. "I am a teenager, Tucker! I get mood swings! Get it?"

Tucker had recoiled in surprise when Danny snapped at him and only returned into an upright position when his best friend pulled himself away. Tucker frowned softly in reply and crossed his arms. "Uh, _we're_ fourteen-year-olds too, Danny," he said as Sam frowned as well. "And you don't see us flippin' out like you."

_"You_ don't have the ghost powers, _you_ don't have my problems, and _you_ don't have parents who are so intent on capturing a ghost that their obsession is beginning to freak you out even more than it did as a kid!" Danny pointed out. "My house has become a living death trap for me, Tucker. Give me one good reason not to panic!"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Let's see," she said sardonically. "Would _you might transform in front of your parents_ be a good reason?"

Danny opened his mouth, yet nothing came out. He looked down at his milkshake.

"Aaand, I take that as a yes," Sam said with a sigh.

Tucker closed the book he was reading and set it aside. He grabbed another book and opened it to a page he had a bookmark on. "Here's something else I found while Sam was looking through another book with you earlier, Danny," he said, catching his best friends' attention. He trailed his finger down the page until he reached a certain line. He cleared his throat. "'For numerous years, researchers of the supernatural studied what they believed to be _ectoplasm_, the substance ghosts and other types of spirits are composed of. One of the interesting characteristics about ectoplasm is that, unlike human blood, it flows _cold_ through the ghost, which explains the sudden chill people may feel when in the presence of a spirit."

Danny raised his eyebrows in surprise and then looked down at his hands again.

"'Yet another feature of ectoplasm is the color itself," Tucker continued. "While human blood flows red when in contact with oxygen, ectoplasm…'" The boy's eyebrows rose up high over his brow as he looked over his glasses. "Wow, I must have missed this part," he muttered. He looked at Danny while pointing at the book. "According to this, your blood turns _green_ when you're a ghost, Danny."

Danny made a grimace of disgust. _"Green_?" he echoed. "That makes it sound like it goes mouldy or something." He leaned forward to take a look at the book. "Are you sure it turns green?"

"Well, it says green or blue, but considering your eyes turn green, I would figure your ectoplasm is that color too."

Sam rubbed her chin thoughtfully and studied her best friend over. "We could find out," she said. She made a gesture with her hand. "Danny, try transforming," she suggested.

Danny looked at her. "Now?"

"No, tomorrow. Yes, _now_, you dip. _Transform." _

"Okay, okay!" Danny put down his milkshake and crossed his arms while keeping his legs crossed as well. Next, he closed his eyes.

Sam and Tucker watched silently until the bright halo flashed into view around Danny's waist and intersected his body. They shouted in surprise and covered their eyes for a moment or two until the light had dimmed. Then, they looked up.

Danny had once more transformed into a ghost. White hair, black suit, dim glow, and green eyes. The only thing that startled Sam and Tucker was the fact that Danny was… _hovering_ a few inches off of the ground.

"Whoa, when did you learn to do _that_?" Tucker exclaimed as he reached over and waved his arm through the space beneath his best friend.

Danny looked at him in confusion. "Learned to do what?" he wondered,

"That!"

The ghost looked down at the floor and did a double take. "Whoa!" He reached over and felt the emptiness beneath him. "I'm actually floating?" He laughed. "That's got to be the highlight of this ghost thing, man!"

Sam groaned and rolled her eyes. "Okay, if you two girls are done feeling the air beneath Danny's butt, could we get back to business?" she asked, catching their attention. She pulled out a swiss army knife, popped out the blade and held it up. "Hold still, Ghost-boy." And with quick movement, Sam held the knife out by Danny's ear and shaved it just enough to break through the skin.

"OWW!" Danny cried out, recoiled and quickly putting his hand over his ear. He glared angrily at the goth. "What the heck was that for, Sam?"

"Your parents actually let you _keep_ one of those in your pocket?" Tucker asked in shock.

Sam tucked the knife away. "Danny, you're honestly one of the most pathetic guys I know," she said. "It wasn't a big _snip_, for Pete's sake. And like you said earlier, it should be gone by morning."

"A heads up would have been nice, though," Danny muttered stubbornly. He pulled his hand away from his ear and stared at it. His eyebrows rose in surprise. "Oh, wow," he said. "Tucker, take a look at this."

Sam and Tucker leaned forward to take a look and studied the ghost's glove; there was a tiny stain of _green_ on it.

"Whooooaaaa," Tucker whistled.

"Your blood actually turns green," Sam added. "That's incredible."

"Not to mention _painful_," Danny added dryly before rubbing his hand over his suit. He held it back up against his ear to make sure the bleeding had stopped. "Okay, now we checked to see what color my ectoplasm is," he announced. Looking at Tucker, he added, "Now what?"

Tucker flipped through the pages of the book he was currently looking at and came to another bookmark. He began reading the page. "'Ghost Powers,'" he began. "'After years of research into the unknown, specialists on the supernatural have come to the conclusion that spirits not only have the ability to be invisible, but they also have other types of powers. Most have the basics, such as Invisibility; Intangibility, being the ability to lose solidness and walk through objects; and the most interesting: _flight. _

"'These are the three basic Ghost Powers, as most seem to call it. There are several other more sinister powers that some spectres were rumoured to have, such as _super strength_, but these are not as common, nor have many had a chance to study them, considering that ghosts often go unseen by the human eye. Which raises the one question everyone seems to be asking themselves: _Do ghosts truly exist?'" _

Sam sneered and playfully poked Danny's side, causing the teenager to yelp in surprise and fall sideways onto the floor. "They exist," she said. "There's one now!"

Tucker watched Danny get back into a sitting position before transforming back into a human. "So, those are the three basic ghost powers," the black teenager explained. "Invisibility, Intangibility and Flight. I mean, there _may_ be a possibility that you've got some other ones, but like the book says, no one really knows, considering everyone thinks that ghosts don't exist." Tucker held up the book. "So our job is to figure these three basic powers out, and have you learn to master them before your folks figure out you're half ghost."

Danny finished dusting himself off. "Invisible, Intangible, and Fly," he mumbled. "Sure; I can live with that." He looked from Sam to Tucker. "So, what do we do now?"

At these words, Tucker smiled cleverly while holding up his PDA. "We train a ghost," he replied.

* * *

Tucker's backyard was about the same size as Danny's. One of the only two differences between the two was the fact that Tucker still had a jungle gym in his. A jungle gym that was filled with memories of burying army men, mud pies and snowball fights. Danny had spent several afternoons with his best friend on this jungle gym when he was younger.

He knew that Tucker never used it now, save for the fact to sit on it. The only reason it was still standing in his yard was because Tucker had several younger cousins who still played on it when they came to visit.

The other difference between Tucker's yard and Danny's was the treehouse. Jack Fenton had never built one for his son, mainly for the reason that he was worried a ghost would snatch his son from the tree and carry him off. But Tucker's father had begun building one on his spare time even before his son was born. By the time Tucker was six, the magnificently well built tree house had been completed. There were two floors and a lookout at the top, almost like a pirate ship. A rope ladder, some climbing stairs and a large bucket that could be pulled upwards were the three means of ascent, while a slide was used to exit it. It had served as a clubhouse for Danny, Tucker and Sam on numerous occasions, and was the only part of the yard that was still being officially used by all three as a meeting place.

Tucker opened the backdoor wide and let both Danny and Sam pass by first. The two walked onto the patio and then down the steps that led into the yard. "I honestly can't believe that jungle gym still stands," Sam said as Tucker ran over to join them. "Your cousins nearly burnt it down that one time, remember?"

"Yeah, but my uncle stopped them before they actually did," Tucker reminded her. "And before they blamed me for it." He handed the book he had been reading through to Sam and held up his PDA while looking at Danny. "I've already put together a few exercises we can try out," he explained. "Each of them consists of you using one of the three basic ghost powers of invisibility, intangibility, and flight. You up for it?"

Danny took a deep breath and crossed his arms. "I don't really have a choice, do I?" he said with a sigh.

Sam patted his back. "Nope, ya don't," she replied. She took a few steps back. "Now transform again."

"You're not gonna stick a knife in my _neck_ this time, are you?" Danny asked suspiciously.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Oh, come off it," she groaned. "Just transform!"

"Wait!" Tucker exclaimed, holding up his hand. He looked at Danny. "Maybe you should give us some kind of warning that you're going to transform, Dude. It _really_ freaks me out when you do it without telling us."

Danny stared at him. "Without telling you?" he echoed. "But you guys are the ones who tell me to do it."

"It still spooks me."

"Well, what do you want me to say?" Danny asked, slightly peeved. "Boo, or something?"

Tucker rubbed his chin thoughtfully and shook his head. "Nnnoo, that's too ominous," he replied.

_"Ominous_? All I'm saying is Boo!"

Sam punched Danny in the shoulder, causing the fourteen-year-old to groan painfully. "What he means, Wise guy, is that it's a _stupid choice_," she clarified.

Danny frowned in reply as he rubbed his shoulder and looked at Tucker again.

Tucker tapped his chin before his face lit up. He looked at Danny. "Hold the phone," he said, pointing at his best friend. "Remember when I called you Saturday morning? You transformed while we were talking and complained about _going ghost_ in front of your parents."

Danny, arms crossed again, looked at Sam. All the girl did was shrug.

"Yeah, I may have said something like that," Danny replied as the two of the looked at Tucker again. "Why?"

"Well, this is just a suggestion," Tucker began, "But what if you said something like that? I mean, it would give us a heads up that you're about to turn into a ghost, right?" He smiled. "Not to mention it sounds pretty catchy, if you ask me."

Danny stared at him in silence for a moment and then unfolded his arms. He looked at himself, looked up at his best friends and then took a few steps away from them. "Uh," he began hesitantly. He looked himself over again before looking at Tucker. "Um… I'm…" He held up his arms. "… I'm going ghost?"

A bright flash filled his view, nearly taking him by surprise, as the halo crossed over his body and transformed him into a ghost. Danny shielded his eyes until the transformation was finished and then looked up at his best friends.

They smiled back. "Good," Sam replied, "Though I would have said just a _little_ more confidently than you did."

"I'm a teenager, not Superman," Danny pointed out flatly.

Tucker played with his PDA. "Actually, according to my schedule, you're going to need to be Superman, Danny," he announced. He looked at his best friend over his glasses and pointed upwards. "Your first exercise: _flying." _

_"What_?" Danny exclaimed. He frowned angrily and waved his arms around. "Are you crazy, Tucker? I can't fly!"

"You're a ghost, Dude. All ghosts can fly."

"I am also a human, you nincompoop!"

Sam groaned loudly, catching Tucker's attention. "Look, Danny; you want to learn how to control your powers to a certain extent, right?" she said. "So, let's start with flying! It's not that hard!"

"Sam, I don't even know how I was able to _float_ back in the house!" Danny pointed out. "How do you expect me to fly?" He bent his knees. "Do I just jump into the air in order to—!"

To his complete surprise, when he attempted to leap upwards, Danny was immediately propelled skyward at incredible speed. He shouted in fright.

"—TAKE OOOOOOFFFFF!" his voice trailed on.

Sam and Tucker stumbled backwards as the gust of wind left in Danny's take-off swept around them. Sam's hair fluttered madly while Tucker lost his beret in the breeze. "We have lift off!" Tucker cried out.

Sam looked upwards and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Danny!" she hollered as loudly as she could. "You've got to control your speed and movement!"

Danny flew this way and that, nearly running into one house after another. He screamed as he narrowly missed a bus driving down the street. "And _how_ do I do THAT, Sam?" he exclaimed furiously.

"I don't know!" Sam held out her arms like the wings of a plane, causing Tucker to giggle hysterically. "Try holding out your arms or something! Do like a super hero!"

Danny yelped as he quickly dodged a tree and did as he was told. "You're telling me this as though I should already know how to do it!" he called out.

"Just try, Danny! Or else risk losing your head!"

Danny groaned and turned his head to look over his shoulder. Tucker's yard was growing more and more distant. He tried moving his body to the right in order to make a U-turn. "Come on, come on, turn around!" he said behind clenched teeth.

It took several minutes before Danny had finally been able to turn his body around and head back towards Tucker's house. He tried with all his might to steer, which he found easier said than done, since there was already a breeze that day. He was now flying against the wind, instead of with it.

He wobbled like a poorly thrown Frisbee. "Whoooaa!" He flailed his arms this way and that, attempting to come down as gently as he could.

But landing was not as easy as flying, especially if one still did not know how to fly. Danny was unable to turn upright in order to land on his feet, and so continued downwards like a missile. He cried out in surprise as he came down quickly into Tucker's yard. "MAYDAYYY!" he exclaimed.

Sam quickly jumped out of the way, only seconds before Danny tumbled onto the lawn like a tumbleweed. The ghost somersaulted all the way to where his best friend was standing, thus crashing into Tucker and dragging him to the ground with shouts of surprise.

Sam covered her eyes until everything was quiet. Then, slowly, she looked up and stared at the boys.

Danny was sprawled out over Tucker's stomach, grass stuck in his white hair. He moaned painfully while Tucker coughed and weakly held up an index finger. "… Houston, we have a problem," the teenager in the yellow shirt groaned.

Sam sighed and slapped her forehead. "This is gonna be harder than we thought," she muttered.


	3. Chapter 3

For the next few days, Danny did whatever studying he could on ghosts while he was not at school. He pulled out all of the journals his mother wrote, studied his father's inventions closely, and asked questions when he needed to. He wrote down every piece of information that he read about ghosts and how it would help him learn more about the powers he received accidentally.

During breaks at school, Danny went over techniques Tucker and Sam had researched for flying. They would leap into Maddie's journals at lunch hour and explain to Danny different ways to help facilitate his steering while flying. One common way to practice was holding out the arms as though they were wings of a plane. It was the easiest way to steer, unlike having your arms in front of you or tucked at your sides.

They would leave their scooters at home and walk to and from after school together. Danny would practice the techniques on the ground, holding out his arms while either Sam or Tucker directed him.

"Turn left!" Tucker shouted as he and Sam ran after Danny.

Danny tilted his body to the left, lowering one arm and raising the other, and turned his feet into the pointed direction. "Right arm up, left arm down," he muttered.

"Turn right!" Sam said.

"Left arm up and right arm down…"

"Go straight!"

"Even out…"

"There's a tree!"

Danny pretended to quickly dodge something before continuing on his way down the side walk.

Tucker pointed ahead. "There's a goose flying towards you!" he cried out.

Danny leaped as high as he could into the air while spreading out his legs before landing again and continuing to run.

It went on like this for the next week or so. When Saturday arrived, Danny invited his best friends over to his house for some more practicing—his parents and sister had decided to go out for the day and were only returning that evening, which left the entire house to him.

That day was the day to practice Ghost Powers numbers two and three: invisibility and intangibility.

Sam tried relaxing Danny's mind and emotions with a few family recipes and exercises—apparently, her grandmother had been into yoga and meditation as a young woman. Though Danny refused to do the more uncomfortable poses, he did however work along with Sam's exercises and teas.

But he never told her how much he _hated_ tea. So he just went with it.

Once he had been able to clear his mind of any doubtful thoughts, Tucker took charge. The computer genius began with small exercises, starting with having Danny turn either his hand or foot intangible and pass it through objects such as a pencil sharpener, a book, and even a computer monitor.

It took several minutes before Danny was able to master that. Then, the objects got bigger, and the amount of his body that went intangible did as well.

He attempted several times to run through walls and doors; he even attempted to phase through Tucker.

Which proved to be as disastrous as his first landing.

Tucker shouted in bewilderment as Danny body checked him and sent them both against his bedroom wall with a loud _THUD_. Tucker moaned painfully and grasped his stomach as Danny pulled himself away. "Oh, man, I think I'm gonna hurl," he said sickly.

Danny bit his lip. "Oops," he said with a nervous laugh. "Sorry, Tuck. I thought for sure I'd get it this time."

"Maybe you should stick with walls and doors until you master it, Dude. Once you do, _then_ you can work on running through people."

Danny stared at the wall behind him and tapped his chin. "No, I'm pretty sure I can get it now," he said, slightly confident. He turned around, faced Sam, and got ready to charge.

Sam recoiled in shock and then frowned gravely at him while holding up her fist. "If you even _think_ of trying that on me, I'll punch your head in, Danny Fenton!" she warned in a furious tone.

Danny immediately froze in his actions and cowered while smiling wryly. "Heheh, of course, I can always stick with walls, I guess," he said fearfully while baring his teeth in a wide grin.

Invisibility was no easier than intangibility. Danny had to play a type of _hide-and-go-seek_ game with Sam and Tucker. He ran around the house, trying to become invisible to the human eye; unfortunately, Sam always caught him, and Tucker was there to take pictures in order for Danny to study.

After the eventful afternoon, Tucker clicked on a folder on Danny's computer and up popped a series of images he uploaded from his camera. Danny and Sam stood behind him, looking at the photos.

One image grew to full screen, and Tucker pointed at something on it. "There," he said. "You didn't turn you right arm invisible." He clicked the "next" button. "And here, you forgot about your left foot." He continued through the pictures. "Right foot, left leg, left ear, left hand…" He giggled at the next one. "Hee hee; I see you've got a… _nose_ for trouble, Dude," he teased.

"Do you know how hard it is to turn my entire body invisible?" Danny complained while Sam swatted Tucker across the head for the lame joke. "It's like… reading 26 books at once. One for each letter of the alphabet."

"Danny, you should probably start thinking more on how you have the power to go completely unseen, than continuously doubting yourself and worrying that someone will notice you," Sam explained gently. "We both know you can do it; all you need to do now is believe in yourself."

"It's not that simple, Sam; I'm trying to use my ghost powers when I'm still in human form," Danny pointed out. "I don't know how to control them as well like that."

"See? You're doing it again!" Sam complained. "You need to start believing yourself, Danny. You _can_ be in control of your powers, and you _can_ learn to do it even in human form. You just need to practice and be more confident."

"Sam, I don't care what you guys think about these powers," Danny said with a soft frown. "It was an accident that should never have happened, they are mistakes that my parents made, and if you want my opinion, these ghost powers of mine are pretty much what I consider a _curse_. I'm already unpopular at school and a D average student; I don't need ghost powers to make my life worse." He crossed his arms and looked away sadly. "I'm just… practicing with you guys so that I can learn to hide my problems from my parents," he added very softly. "If they ever found out about this, they'd never take me back."

Tucker slowly turned around in his chair and looked at Danny before looking up at Sam worriedly. Sam stared back at him with the same amount of concern in her eyes before looking at Danny once more. "Danny, your parents will love you for who you are," she said. "Not for what you are. Whether you're a ghost or a human—!"

"—or both," Tucker added as-a-matter-of-factly.

Sam nodded in agreement. "Or both," she echoed, "Your parents will always consider you as their son." She reached over and placed a hand on her best friend's shoulder while grinning encouragingly. "And yeah, maybe we do think your powers are cool. That's why we're helping you learn to control them. Because _we_ believe that they're a gift. Not a curse."

Danny looked up at her as she spoke yet remained silent.

"You just need to… keep practicing. And we'll help you along the way until you get it right."

Danny blinked a few times before finally managing to crack a weak grin. "Thanks," he said softly.

Sam smiled back at him while Tucker returned to his photo browsing. Unfortunately, the next one came as a complete surprise to him. He recoiled in shock and covered his eyes. "Ack! Speaking of helping you out," he began, catching both Sam's and Danny's attention, "I think we should start with getting you to go _fully_ invisible, once and for all. This one was _nasty!" _

Danny and Sam stared at him as he spoke and then looked at the computer screen. What they saw made both of them shout in bewilderment. Sam covered her mouth and eyes while Danny's face turned dark red with embarrassment.

"Dude, you _seriously_ need to get pants with a smaller waist line," Tucker said behind his hand.

"How was _I_ supposed to know your camera was behind me?"

* * *

His parents returned shortly after Sam and Tucker had left for dinner. Danny was in the living room, watching a bit of TV, when his family walked in.

Maddie prepared dinner like usual, and both she and Jack began talking to their son about the eventful day they had had in the city. Even Jazz had come home looking as though she had a good time. The girls giggled about how they had managed to trick Jack into trying a Triple XL woman's dress. Jack replied that he thought it was a new type of jumpsuit.

However, Danny's mind was on other things. Although he did enjoy hearing his family speak so lively—it hardly happened nowadays, considering all his parents talked about were ghosts—he was beginning to come face-to-face with a new dilemma, other than perfecting his ghost powers. And it was one that he was certain would keep him troubled for a long time:

_Should_ he tell his parents that he had ghost powers? He had seen the inventions his mother created, and ever since the Ghost Portal began to mysteriously work—Danny never mentioned anything about that Monday afternoon—they worked like a charm. Everything Maddie invented did what it was meant to do: harm or destroy ghosts. Even some of Jack's inventions were functioning, save the few that still did the exact opposite of what they were intended to do.

Would his parents forgive him for stepping into the portal when they knew it was dangerous? Would they still love him, even though he had ghost powers now? Or would they experiment on him as though he was no longer a human, but a spectre?

"Danny, you're hardly eating your food," Maddie noticed. Her voice pulled Danny out of his thoughts, and when he looked up, he noticed that both his parents and his sister were staring at him. His mother pointed her fork at his plate. "All you're doing is pushing your peas around." She leaned towards him. "Are you feeling alright, Sweetie?"

Danny stared back at her and then looked down at his plate. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine," he replied heavily. Putting his fork down and pushing his plate forward, Danny stood up and stepped away from the table. "I, uh, I'm not that hungry, Mom," he said. He walked to the exit. "I'm… gonna go do some studying." With that said, he turned around the corner and disappeared.

Maddie, Jack and Jazz stared at the doorway in shock before looking at each other.

"Danny's going to… _study_?" Jazz said in confusion.

* * *

For the following week, things went in the same order as it had the week before. Danny would practice flying techniques on the way to and from school—a few days, he found himself doing it alone because either Tucker or Sam had appointments. He poured through more books and wrote down important points Sam had suggested he jot down. Tucker left the photos he took of Danny on his computer, allowing the teenager to study them and practice when no one was around.

And it was not only with his friends that he practiced, nor was it only one the way to school. Even at home in the yard, when he thought no one was looking, Danny practiced the techniques his best friends gave him to study. At night, he'd lock himself in his room and go through more books, memorizing word for word, and then practicing his intangibility and invisibility.

Of course, mixed feelings about his abilities still plagued him. It did not help with his fear of ghosts, nor did it change his mind about liking them; but it did help him to understand the powers he was now going to be living with for the remainder of his life.

The following Thursday, Maddie had decided to check up on her son. For nearly a month now, he had begun to distance himself from both of his parents. He hardly ate dinner and went upstairs to his room, locking himself in for the rest of the evening.

Luckily, this evening, Danny had forgotten to lock his door.

Maddie peered into the room without her son's knowing and watched him study. Danny was sitting cross-legged over the bed, tapping a pencil against his chin and then trailing it over the page of a book the next moment. Open books and papers surrounded him almost as much as his model rockets and NASA posters surrounded his room.

Maddie had no idea what he was studying, but his behaviour had struck her as odd anyhow; she knew Danny to always be a smart boy, but he had never really been studious like his sister.

So then, why was he all of a sudden pouring through one book after another?

She rubbed her chin thoughtfully before quietly closing her son's bedroom door. _Maybe I don't know him as well as I thought I did_, she thought before turning and leaving.

* * *

The weekend soon arrived again, and Danny found himself in the park on Saturday morning, accompanied by Sam and Tucker. It was a sunny and surprisingly warm day in autumn, and so people were out and about, doing all sorts of things.

Luckily, no one was out in that area of the park, which allowed Danny to practice his abilities outdoors instead of indoors. It had been an area only Danny, Sam and Tucker had known of since they were children. The trees were thick enough to hide them, and they were far enough from any other populated part of the park that no one heard them.

Tucker pulled out his PDA and began touching the screen with his pen. "Okay; you still need extra work on your intangibility, and your invisibility still has a few kinks," he began. Looking up at Danny, he grinned. "Buuut, I'll admit; you're able to do a lot more than you were the first week you were a ghost, Dude. You're improving a lot."

Danny, hands in his pockets, grinned timidly.

"At least with smaller objects," Sam added. "You still can't turn anything more than half your size intangible and you're still having difficulties walking through walls…" She paused and laughed. "Uh, make that _run_ through walls," she corrected herself.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Okay, so I need to learn to take it slower," he admitted.

Tucker put his PDA away and looked at Danny. "For now, we'll see how you can do it out here, where no one can see us," he said. He pointed at his best friend. "But first, let's see what you've learned. Have you been studying?"

"Until my brain melted," Danny replied unenthusiastically. However, after a pause, he smiled and held up his index finger. "But, I did find out a few more things about my ghost powers that you guys may not have known," he added.

"Oooh, sounds thrilling," Sam replied with a grin, although Danny did sense a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "Show us what you've got then."

Danny held up his arms. "Going Ghost!" he exclaimed.

The bright halo formed around his waist, and once it had intersected his body like it normally did, Danny had transformed into the ghost with snow white hair and glowing green eyes.

Tucker grinned brightly. "Not bad," Sam admitted. "You actually sounded proud this time."

"Just a cover up," Danny replied. "I still don't like my powers."

"But I have to agree with Tuck; that catch line really is catchy."

Danny smiled in return and jumped into the air. He floated a few inches over the ground in standing position and held out his arms. "I finally figured out how to float," he said. "And check _this_ out."

He bent his knees as though he would try to jump while already in midair; but instead of taking off, Tucker and Sam watched Danny's legs merge together and form a transparent spectral tail. Everything from his belt down became what almost looked like a trail of black mist.

Sam smiled brightly as Tucker laughed and held up his arms. "Dude, you've got a _spectral tail_!" he exclaimed. "You actually look like a ghost, now!"

"And you said you didn't like your powers," Sam added.

Danny crossed his arms. "I don't," he replied. "But it doesn't mean I can't figure things out." He pointed at his best friends. "Remember, I'm just doing this to keep my parents from figuring me out. I don't intend to _like_ anything about my ghost half."

"Yeah, yeah, we know," Tucker said boringly while waving an arm before him.

"But I did learn a few more things too," Danny added, catching their attention again. He morphed his legs back to normal and stumbled slightly as he landed on the ground. "When I went through some of my mom's books, I found out that another ghost power that's common is _overshadowing_. I could actually phase into someone's body and take over their actions."

Sam raised her eyebrows impressively, although Tucker frowned and pointed at Danny. "I sure hope you're not thinking in trying _that_ on me yet," he warned. "Because I've already got enough bruises on the outside of my body. I don't need you to do damage on the inside."

Danny made a grimace in return. "No, I wasn't planning to," he said. "And I don't plan on checking if I can, either." He then turned around and walked up to a giant boulder that was sitting next to a tree. "But you know that thing about super strength you read a few weeks ago, Tuck?" he said while leaning down and placing his arms around the boulder. "Well, I think I can confirm it."

Sam and Tucker watched in silence until their eyes went so wide, Danny could have sworn they would pop right out of their sockets. Their jaws dropped, as did their arms, as they watched Danny raise the boulder over his head and hold it up as though it weight next to nothing.

"Omigosh, omigosh, omigosh," Tucker muttered in awe.

Danny looked at them amusingly. "What, you've never seen a ghost hold up a rock before?" he teased.

Sam pointed at him. "We've never seen _you_ lift up anything heavier than half your body weight!" she exclaimed. "Since when did you become super strong?"

"Since I walked into a portal," he replied. Danny gently lowered the rock back down to the ground and stood back up while crossing his arms. "I remember, when I was overgoing the transformation in the portal, that my muscles seemed to grow sturdier," he explained. "I felt stronger, even healthier. When I asked my parents about ectoplasm, Mom told me that, for reasons unknown to us, it provides the ghost with abnormal strength." He pointed at himself and smiled wryly. "I was in my room a few days ago, ticked off that I could even walk through a wall in ghost mode, that I actually _picked up_ my bed and threatened to toss it!" He paused and shrugged. "That's when I realized that I had super strength."

Tucker stuck his fingers behind his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Holy cow, my best friend's a _ghost_," he said in awe, as though he had not realized it before. He opened his eyes again and held his arms out in Danny's direction while laughing. "Dude, do you know what this means? You've actually got what it takes to be a super hero!"

"You could finally do something that could change the world!" Sam added, just as excited.

Danny recoiled in surprise and then frowned. "Uh, _I_ don't think so," he replied sternly. "How many times have I told you two that I'm _not_ going to _use_ my powers other than for keeping my secret… a secret from my folks? I'm only showing you guys what I learned, that's all. I'm still not that good at turning invisible or intangible for Pete's sake." He pointed at Sam and his frown grew. "And another thing; people _hate_ ghosts, Sam. It freaks them out. What could a ghost do to be recognized as a super hero?"

"Danny, you have got to snap out of it!" Sam argued. "You've got an amazing gift! You're a hybrid, something kids our age only dream of being!"

"Dream? Sam, I'm a freak! I'm half ghost! A ghost is supposed to be something that's _dead_, remember? It's impossible to take something freaky and turn it into something amazing! It's just not possible!"

Sam slapped her forehead as Tucker shook his head and sighed. "Okay, this is getting ridiculous," she said. Looking at Tucker, she added, "Let's just get this practice done so that I can go back home and punch my pillow until it bursts."

Tucker held up his PDA and read what was on its screen. "Okay; first up, I've got intangibility," he announced. He looked up at Danny. "There are plenty of trees for you to try it out on, but take it at a slower pace, dude." He paused and pointed a menacing finger at his best friend while frowning. "Oh, and if you even think of trying that on me again, expect a boot in your face."

Danny grinned amusingly. "Wow, Tucker just sounded scary," he teased.

Tucker smiled proudly and nudged Sam in the ribs. "I'm a good student, aren't I?" he joked.

"Hardee har," Sam replied, although she was grinning as well.

For the next hour or so, Danny attempted to use his intangibility and invisibility, just as he had throughout the past few weeks. Unfortunately, he was still unable to phase through anything larger than the length of his arm, which became a pain when he would find himself one leg or one arm stuck in a tree trunk. Invisibility proved to be a simpler task, though there were still moments where he either could not remain unseen for longer than a few seconds, or Sam and Tucker would notice a part of his black and white suit sticking out.

Sam pressed the stop button on her stopwatch when Danny reappeared out of thin air and stared at the numerals. She sighed. "Guess what, Danny; you've made a new record today," she said incredibly sarcastically. "You've stayed _completely_ invisible for… about five seconds."

Danny groaned loudly and sat down on the cool grass while burying his face in his hands. "This is hopeless, guys," he said in despair. "I've been studying my butt off on ghost stuff _and_ you guys have been trying to help me train, but no matter what I do, I can't stop thinking about how horrible these powers are making my life! And that's what's _really_ interfering with everything!"

Sam and Tucker exchanged pitiful looks before walking over to their best friend. "Danny, having powers isn't all _that_ bad," Tucker pointed out. "I mean, instead of thinking of all the bad things about them, think about the advantages."

Danny scoffed behind his hands and looked up at his best friend with a glare. His eyes were already filled with tears. "Advantages?" he said shakily. "Like what, Tuck? Give me _five_ good reasons for having these stupid powers."

"Well," Tucker began while holding out his fingers, "You can play a decent game of hide and go seek."

"You can walk through walls instead of needing to open the doors," Sam added.

"You can pick things up that no ordinary human being could lift."

"You can light up your own bedroom if the power goes out…"

"Aaand," Tucker concluded with a grin, "My personal favourite…" He pointed upwards. "Fly. You. Can. _Fly." _

Danny stared at his friends in silence. The more they spoke, the more his frown dissipated.

Tucker fell silent for a moment before shrugging innocently. "Well, at least you _will_ be able to once you get the hang of it," he added.

"Danny, things change in our lives, but they change for the better," Sam said as she grabbed her best friend's hands and helped him back to his feet. "All the bad changes are things humans mess around with. This could be a good change."

"My parents built a ghost portal, Sam," Danny said heavily. "That's what turned me into this."

"Maybe, but they didn't transform you. They didn't even think that the portal was working, remember?"

Danny remained silent. He stared at her for a moment before looking down at his feet.

Sam grinned encouragingly and placed a hand on Danny's shoulder, catching his attention again. "Tucker and I believe that this is one of the good changes," she said softly. "So, would it seriously hurt if you tried to believe the same?"

"And a good way to start doing that is by trying to fly again," Tucker added. He wiggled his PDA. "While following the training we gave you, of course."

Danny looked at him in silence before looking at Sam once more. When all his best friends did was smile encouragingly, he sighed and passed a hand through his hair. "Fine, I'll give it one last go," he said softly.

"Aaaannnd?" Sam and Tucker said in unison.

"And, I'll try believing… in this being a good change too."

"That's more like it," Sam replied.

"Show us what you've got, Bro," Tucker added while giving the thumbs up.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Tucker while he spoke before staring upwards at the blue sky above. A few clouds floated here and there, but not enough to hide the limitless heavens.

And on the inside, deep down, perhaps… Danny really did want to try this once more.

The fourteen-year-old took a deep breath and walked off. "But I'm still not sure about liking these powers… one hundred percent," he muttered under his breath.

Once he figured he was at a good distance, Danny stopped and stared up at the sky once more. Inhale, exhale. _Remember the tips Sam and Tucker gave you, Danny_, he thought. _You've got to tilt your body in the right direction when you want to turn, and you can't panic unless you want to crash_. He took another deep breath. _Keep your arms out in order to steer. When you get better at this, you can try flying with them in different positions_. He closed his eyes and raised his head. _You can do this, Danny. You can do this._

He waited a moment, taking in the silence around him before finally bending his knees and squatting as low as he could. Then, he pushed off with all his might, taking off like a rocket into the sky.

Danny opened his eyes and looked around as his body began to tilt horizontally. He held out his arms like the wings of a plane and stared at the clouds and blue that surrounded him. _Hm_, he thought. _This isn't so bad. At least I'm not up that—!_

He dared to look down. To his complete dismay, his hometown was miles below now. He could not even see the people anymore, and the vehicles looked like ants.

"High?" he exclaimed in terror. He covered his eyes. "I hate my powers! I really, _really_ hate them! GET ME DOWN NOW!"

As if to answer, his body suddenly tilted vertically, as though obeying his wish. Danny gasped softly when he felt this and then screamed as he began the long way back to the ground, freefalling.

The wind whistled by his ears as Danny covered his eyes again. His hair pulled back on his scalp as it danced madly in the passing air. His mind filled with the worst thoughts he could possibly think: how hard was he going to hit the ground? How fast was he falling? Would his family miss him? Would Jazz cry? Would Sam and Tucker feel horrible about putting him through that entire month of…

Suddenly, a different thought pushed through the melee of horrible ones and made its way to the front of his mind. It caused Danny to uncover his eyes and gasp softly in relevance.

Sam and Tucker were not thinking of the worst. In fact, they had never even _mentioned_ what could go wrong the entire time Danny had practiced. They had helped him train. They had come up with different techniques to help him steer. They had encouraged him to give it a second go.

… They _believed_ in him.

Danny held this thought for a moment or two longer before finally staring at the rushing ground below him. The tree tops were growing closer with every second.

Danny blinked and then frowned as his eyes flashed green. "Not… this… time!" he yelled.

Spreading out his arms again, Danny looked up and placed his legs together. He pulled his body into an upward dive just in time to clear the tree tops. The tips of a few leaves brushed against his stomach before flying off in the gust of air that trailed behind him.

Once he had decided to be high enough, Danny straightened out horizontally again and straightened out his arms. "Okay, let's do this," he said to himself. He lowered his right arm and raised his left, helping his body turn sideways. As a result, he began turning directions, flying in a giant loop.

He turned left. He turned right. He flew up and down. He twisted around a flock of geese, heading South for the upcoming winter. He brushed against the treetops of the park, just to feel the leaves against his jumpsuit. At a certain point, Danny discovered that, when his legs were merged together in a spectral tail, he was able to fly even faster than he was able to before.

Several minutes went by before a reality finally settled into his heart; and for the first time, it made him smile.

"I'm flying," Danny whispered in awe. "I'm flying." He did a backwards flip while spreading out his arms. "I'M FLYIIIINNNNGGGG!"

Several hundred feet below, Sam and Tucker watched as Danny performed one stunt after another. Though at first his movements were weak and wobbly, they soon evened out, and before their very own eyes, they were watching their best friend _fly. _

"This has _got_ to be the highlight of this month, man!" Tucker laughed as he shielded his eyes from the sun and watched Danny do another flip. "He's got this down-pat already!"

"Now, if only he knew how to land," Sam added, although she was admiring Danny's stunts as well. "That's always the hard part."

"No way, Sam; the hard part is going to have to get him back _down_ here!"

Danny appeared over the tree tops after having disappeared for a moment and dove down towards the ground. Sam and Tucker shielded their heads as the ghost flew by them, a transparent tail trailing behind.

"I'm flying! I'm actually FLYING!" Danny cried out with a laugh as he headed back upwards again. "WOOOOHOOOOO!"

"A miracle if I ever did see one," Sam said with a smile as she straightened out and crossed her arms.

Tucker placed his hands on his hips. "Do you really think he'll keep hating his ghost powers after this?" he asked.

Sam looked at him, and they both shared the same smile before looking up again and watching Danny soar. "I'm not sure," she replied. "Ghosts are hard to predict. They've got this _mysterious_ air about them."

They both fell silent for a moment or two while watching their best friend twist and twirl and flip through the sky above without any care, any doubt, any fear in his heart. It was as though he belonged up there, worriless, in the sky.

And Sam and Tucker believed it.

They smiled proudly. "Way to go, Danny," Sam said softly.

* * *

_This was my favorite part to write. Mainly because We see Danny trying to perform all of his powers yet failing miserably. He's trying, give him a break!_

_I remembered that in the first episode, Danny had already perfected **flying,** while he was still working the kinks out on **invisibility and intangibility.** If you don't remember that, I'll remind you:_

**_Danny grabbed hold of Sam and Tucker and seemed to have difficulty turning them and himself intangible in order to get away from the flying ovens headed their way. He managed to phase them through the wall and they landed in a heap on the floor in the hallway outside._**

In a burst of excitement, Danny rose to his feet with a smile and said, "Hey! It worked!"

_That kind of got me thinking, maybe Danny hadn't perfected anything but flying before that point. I mean, he was still even trying to work out the kinks and timing of his transformation in the episode, remember?_

_Anywho, this was the looooong short story. Hope you enjoyed it._


End file.
